Uber speeds off with senior Apple Maps engineer

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Former (?) iOS Maps engineer Chris Blumenberg. Photo: Chris Blumenberg
Former (?) iOS Maps engineer Chris Blumenberg. Photo: Chris Blumenberg

Uber has just poached one of Apple’s senior engineering manager, who worked on both the company’s Maps app and its iPhone software, says subscription website The Information.

The senior iOS engineer in question, Chris Blumenberg, was among the first engineers to work on the iPhone’s software — joining Apple in 2000 initially to help Microsoft port Internet Explorer and Office over to Mac OS X.

The Information editor Jessica Lessin claims that three sources familiar with Blumenberg’s jump to Uber confirmed the situation with her.

The shaky Apple Maps app has been steadily improving since its disastrous debut in 2012. Having initially had to apologize for the Maps debacle (which led to the dismissal of former iOS chief Scott Forstall) it was recently reported that Apple is now pushing through error corrections on the app every single day.

Blumenberg’s move to Uber comes shortly after the transportation app startup was valued at a massive $17 billion. It is not known what he will be doing at the startup, but perhaps some new mapping software is on the way?

At Apple, Blumenberg was named on numerous patents related to iOS, many with Scott Forstall. His LinkedIn profile (where many of these patents can be seen) and Twitter account still reflect his job at Apple, so the move has yet to be 100 percent confirmed, but this is sounding very likely.

Source: The Information

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